Rafael Nadal said he had limited expectations for the Barcelona Open as he returned from injury on Tuesday to beat Italy’s Flavio Coboli 6-2, 6-3. The 22-time Grand Slam champion, who has not played an official match since January, easily defeated No. 62 Coboli in 85 minutes to advance to the second round. The former world No. 1 slipped to No. 644 in the rankings after missing the entire 2023 season following the Australian Open. His comeback hit a snag early this year when he felt a hip injury in Brisbane.
For Nadal, a 12-time champion at Barcelona, it was his first appearance on clay since winning the French Open two years ago, but the Spaniard did not want to get too carried away.
Stefanos Tsitsipas, winner of last week’s Monte Carlo Masters, said earlier this week he wouldn’t be surprised if Nadal reaches the final on a court named after him.
“To say today that I am the favourite, I think it is stupid, Tsitsipas knows that is not the case,” said Nadal, who turns 38 in June.
“I understand what he’s saying is respect for what I’ve done in this fight. Everyone knows I’m not the favorite to win the fight.”
“I don’t know at all if I will be the favorite today, I know I won’t be tomorrow,” added Nadal, who will face fourth seed Alex De Minaur on Wednesday for a place in the last 16.
“But it doesn’t matter, I’m going to go out and compete and it’s going to be an experience against top players.”
After trailing Nadal 30-0 with two errors, Coboli found his rhythm and was intimidated by the enthusiastic support for the Spaniard on the court.
Nadal cashed in his third break point in the fourth game to lead 3-1, and Coboli saved four more break points to fall behind 4-2.
The Spaniard broke serve again in the 43rd minute and celebrated with clenched fists.
Coboly made two more unforced errors in the second set, allowing Nadal to break serve at 2-0, but eventually put pressure on Nadal’s serve to break in the third game.
However, Nadal broke again after Coboli’s third double fault to win 3-1 and claim victory.
“It’s a good start – when you come back you can’t get rid of doubts in one day, especially on a physical level,” Nadal told TVE.
“To the extent possible, it was a good first-round match. He made mistakes and I thought I played the game I had to play.”
Brandon Nakashima defeated an angry Andrey Rublev in the first round 6-4, 7-6 (8/6).
The 87th-ranked American eliminated the world number 8, who double-faulted five times and forced just one break point.
Nakajima broke the Russian player 5-4 in the ninth game and saved a break point before serving to win the first set 5-4.
Rublev, the tournament’s second seed, saved four break points in the second set but failed miserably after hitting a long backhand in the tiebreak.
The Russian repeatedly slammed his racket on the ground before storming off.
Carlos Alcaraz, the 2022 and 2023 Barcelona champion, withdrew on Sunday with a forearm injury.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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